The invention involves an adjustment device for a sliding roof of a vehicle, having at least two lamellas for a choice of closing and at least partially uncovering a roof opening in a fixed roof surface of a vehicle (multiple-spoiler roof) with the features of the characterizing clause of claim 1.
An adjustment device of this type is known from the state of the art in DE 43 29 583 C1. The lamellas of this vehicle roof are adjacent to one another in the closed position and form a plane-surface, interlinked lamella system with each other, as well as with the roof surface of the vehicle. Each lamella is guided on its narrow sides with dowel pins along guide elements fixed to roof. In so doing, the dowel pins are held in an interlock with the guide elements in the entire adjustment area of the lamellas. When the lamellas are opened, the plane-surface, interlinked lamella system is undone by swinging up each lamella, one after the other, of the vehicle sliding roof; or, as the case may be, the system is recreated when the vehicle sliding roof is closed.
Two neighboring, adjacent lamellas are continually connected with each other in each case via a swiveling and guiding mechanism for this, though, independently of whether the vehicle sliding roof is closed or open. This is why guide rails essentially extending over the entire length of the lamella are located on the longitudinal edges of every single lamella.
This not only leads to an expensive and complicated guidance mechanism, but also results in increased weight of the lamellas because of the additional guide rails on the lamellas. The minimum spacing of the lamellas that can be achieved in their open position with regard to each other is limited by the additional guide rails likewise sticking out of the surface of the vehicle roof in the upright position.
The technical problem of creating an adjustment device for a vehicle sliding roof consisting of lamellas that can be swiveled and moved, which has a simple structure and which can nevertheless be operated dependably and which is stable, therefore forms the basis of the invention.
The technical problem that was previously indicated is solved, in accordance with the invention, with an adjustment device for a vehicle sliding roof with the features of claim 1. In accordance with the invention, a drive carriage is provided that is arranged so as to be movable in the guide element fixed to the vehicle in front of the lamella support carriages and that is connected with the adjustment drive unit of the vehicle sliding roof, on the one hand; on the other hand, swiveling and coupling elements are provided from which the one set of lamella elements between the drive carriage and the first lamella support element act, as well as the other ones between the lamella support carriages and the neighboring lamella support elements in each case. When the vehicle sliding roof is opened, the swiveling and coupling elements only engage with each other at stipulated positions and, when it is closed, they go to the stipulated positions again, disengaged from each other.
With an adjustment device of this type, the opening and closing sequence is such that the lamella in front in the direction of motion of the vehicle is first swiveled and pushed backwards, and the subsequent lamellas are accordingly moved one after the other; closing takes place in the reverse order.
In the closed position, the lamella support carriages are spatially separated from the assigned lamella support elements of two neighboring lamellas of the vehicle sliding roof in each case and not coupled with each other. Neighboring lamella support carriages (or the drive carriage) and lamella support elements are only coupled with each other, while the accompanying lamella swivels, and pushed along the vehicle roof opening on the grounds of this mechanical coupling, when the swiveling and coupling elements engage with each other. When the vehicle sliding roof is closed, the swiveling and coupling elements then get to the stipulated positions again without being engaged, so that the mechanical coupling between the drive or lamella support, on the one hand, and the respective neighboring lamella support elements, on the other hand, is undone.
In the case of an adjustment device in accordance with the invention, the entire mechanism is comparably compact and simply designed, so that only a little bit of space is taken up by the adjustment device. The minimum spacing of the opened lamellas to each other can also be less than is the case with the vehicle sliding roofs that are known.
In the preferred way, the control elements of the lamella support elements secure the lamellas in their position in the operating phases in which the swiveling and coupling elements engage or disengage. After the swiveling and coupling elements disengage from each other during the closing, or before they engage with one another during opening, no other adjustment forces act on the lamella support carriages or the lamella support elements of the lamellas already in the closed position, so the lamellas remain in their closed position.
The swiveling and coupling elements that act between the lamella support carriages, or the drive carriage, and lamella support elements of neighboring lamellas engage with each other during the opening process, and the assigned lamella support element is swiveled into the open position andxe2x80x94essentially subsequentlyxe2x80x94moved. The mechanical coupling between neighboring carriages continues to be effected because of the engagement of the swiveling and coupling elements, so a towing interlock exists during the closing process between the coupled carriages that is pulled by the drive carriage along at least the one guide element. The swiveling and coupling elements disengage again at the stipulated positions during the closing process; the rear lamella support element in each case of the towing interlock is swiveled into the closed position in the process. The decoupling between the drive carriage and the neighboring lamella support carriage, or between two neighboring lamella support carriages, is therefore brought about with, or directly after, the swiveling down of a lamella. The situation consequently arises that the individual carriages and therefore the lamellas as well are mechanically decoupled when there is a closed vehicle sliding roof.
In the preferred way, the swiveling and coupling elements are designed as a first control cam and a first connecting link. In the process, the first control cam is connected with the lamella support element, whereas the first connecting link guide is designed into the drive carriage, or the neighboring lamella support carriages as the case may bexe2x80x94or the other way around. During the opening of the vehicle sliding roof, the first control cam that is affected in each case engages with the assigned, first connecting link, which is preferably open, on the side turned to it. While the first control cam is moved in the first, assigned connecting link, the curved form of the connecting link defines the swiveling movement of the lamella support element around the swivel pin.
In a further preferred way, the control elements define the amount by which the lamella to be swiveled in each case is moved during the swiveling phase of the lamellas along the guide element. The complicated movement that is comprised of a translational and a swiveling movement at the start of the opening or at the end of the closing can consequently be precisely stipulated by a suitable design of the control elements. This is, among other things, of great significance at the start of the opening process or at the end of the closing process in view of the load on the seals located between the individual lamellas.
In a particularly preferred way, the control elements are designed as a second control cam and as a second connecting link; the second control cam is planned, in so doing, as being on the lamella support element and the second connecting link in one or both side parts fixed to the vehicle. The positioning angle of the lamella is (also) defined by the form of the connecting link in every position of the lamella relative to the vehicle roof because the second control cam is continually engaged with the assigned connecting link. Because the first control cam is also defined in its position relative to the vehicle roof by the first connecting link, in addition to the second control cam.
In a preferred design form, it is further planned that the first control cam is located in the direction of motion of the vehicle in front of the swivel pin and the second control cam is located behind the swivel pinxe2x80x94or the other way around. A maximum distance between the support points of every lamella, with reference to the length of the lamella support element, consequently results, so that sufficient stability of the upright lamella is ensured, especially with regard to the impacting forces of the wind when moving, despite the compact design of the adjustment device.